As my time in collegiate academia winds down, I’ve realized I’ve neglected my craft of writing. It was a necessary evil, unfortunately—all of my creativity and writing time was fully invested in writing things for school. As I browsed at Barnes & Noble doing research for a class assignment, I stumbled across a book of writing prompts in the clearance section of Barnes & Noble. I figure this would be the perfect way to get back into a rhythm.

With that, the first prompt, and my response:

While at the beach you decide to write a message in a bottle. What would it say? Who would you like to find it?

Greetings!

If you’re reading this message, you’ve probably found the bottle I tossed into the ocean. It was all rather like something out of a book, though I imagine you’re likely one of those volunteers, picking up trash off of the beach to save the whales or something, and probably wondered what kind of jerk just tosses a glass bottle on the beach. Well, surprise, Mr. Judgmental Tree Hugger! That’s me you’ve mentally made your mind up about before knowing my purpose.

In reality, I thought in the digital, cloud-based age we live in, someone might enjoy a handwritten note—I admit, as you’re going through my chicken-scratch, you probably are wondering if I’m writing in Korean or Mandarin. Sorry about that, I’ve always had poor handwriting.

Oh, how rude of me! I’m of course assuming this washed up on a beach in the US. Maybe you’re in Mexico—buenos dias! Maybe you’re Japanese—Konichiwa! Canadian, perhaps? Hockey hosers, eh?

In any event, please know this—you matter. I don’t know where you are in life, but you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Even if you do make unfair assumptions every time you see a bottle on the beach.

Cheers!

     -Man in a bottle